Why Your Roof Needs Adequate Ventilation

Proper attic ventilation protects your roof from damage and helps reduce your home’s energy consumption. In warm months, heat from the sun radiates into the attic and can become trapped. In cold months, excess moisture can build up on the inside of the attic, potentially damaging insulation, studs, and other materials.

During the warmer months of the year, an improperly ventilated attic will accumulate heat throughout the day from the sun. The trapped hot air migrates downward into your home, creating discomfort for the occupants. As a result, most homeowners respond by running the air-conditioner or fan for longer hours of the day, increasing energy costs significantly. In the long run, attic heat will also damage shingles and shorten the lifespan of your roof. Roof ventilation allows for the hot air in the roof to continually flow back to the outside, reducing the amount of heat that radiates down into your home, and in turn reduces the cost of cooling your home.

In colder months, heated air from inside your home flows up into the attic along with moisture generated through everyday household activities such as cooking, bathing, dishwashing and laundry. When this warm, moist air comes into contact with cooler materials, such as rafters, trusses and roof sheathing, condensation is created on the surface of these materials. This condensation drips down into your insulation, reducing its effectiveness and creating a need for additional heating in your home. This of course translates into higher energy costs for you, and eventual deterioration of the components of your home’s roof. Proper ventilation allows the exchange of moist, warm air from inside the attic with colder, drier air from outside, reducing the negative effects to your roof.

An efficient attic ventilation system will allow for the exchange of air on the underside of the roof deck with the use of undereave vents and through ridge vents running the entire length of the roof peak.